Liege Airport strengthens position as main Belgian cargo airport

Liege Airport strengthened its position as Belgium’s leading cargo airport with 660,604 tonnes of freight compared with 649,829 tonnes in 2015 (+1.7%).

“There has been sustained business growth for all our companies with significant increases for CAL, El Al and Qatar Airways”, explains Luc Partoune, Managing Director of Liege Airport. “In a transition phase following the buyout by Fedex, TNT continues to perform well and remains our most important client.”

In turn, passenger numbers showed a clear increase following the attack carried out on Brussels Airport. More than 382,000 passengers transited the Liege Airport terminal as a result (an increase of 27%). “This has been an exceptional year due to the fact that in three weeks we handled 150,000 passengers who were unfamiliar with our airport and 1,600 aircraft movements of companies also new to our facilities.”

More cargo, more passengers but fewer aircraft movements: down from 41,045 movements in 2015 to 37,987 this year.

In terms of real estate, Liege Airport is successfully pursuing its diversification strategy via its subsidiary Liege Airport Business Park. Occupancy of office space is running at more than 93%.

A new 6,000 sq m cargo hall will be built in 2017 with a 4 million euro investment.